Maiden Over: A sapphic sports romance novella

by Renée Dahlia

Two bowlers on rival teams. One broken thumb. One fake date at a wedding.
Bronwyn Skilton would rather be anywhere but at her cousin’s wedding. When was she going to learn to say no to her toxic family? When she ends up seated beside her rival Stacey Carringer on the plane to Sydney, Bron blurts out a foolish solution. Well, it was hardly her fault that Stacey was so bloody gorgeous that it melted her brain.
Agreeing to be Bron’s fake date to a family wedding was not Stacey’s smartest move. She’d had a crush on the older pace bowler forever, and had nearly asked Bron to sign her cast after Bron broke her thumb in their last game. Embarrassing.
The wedding should’ve been awkward. Instead, it leaves Bron bruised and Stacey filled with admiration. And love? No, this was supposed to be fake. When did these real feelings happen?

Genres: Romance, Sports, Lesbian, LGBT, Contemporary, Adult

103 pages, Kindle Edition

Published March 25, 2025

About the author

Renée Dahlia is an unabashed romance reader who loves feisty women and strong, clever men. Her books reflect this, with a side-note of awkward humour. Renée has a science degree in physics. When not distracted by the characters fighting for attention in her brain, she works in the horse racing industry doing data analysis. When she isn’t reading or writing, Renée spends time with her partner, four children, and volunteers on the local cricket club committee.

Reviews

[RNPride · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyable book

I really enjoyed this book. I read it in one day which is unusual for me. I love the characters and appreciated the explanation of what cricket is, including the glossary. The characters are well developed and interesting. I got caught up in the book right from the beginning. The only slightly negative thing I have to say is that there were a number of typos, none of which I believe are from the Australian English vs American English difference. I think this author would benefit from a proofreader. Otherwise I loved the book! I will definitely read other books by this author.

[Frank · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this one - short but lovable!

I received this book through a "one-day-special-offer" earlier this month, not knowing the author - just liked the synopsis. Once I started reading, I was completely hooked and couldn't put it down!

The two main characters (Bron & Stacey) are just great: strong yet with weaknesses, appealing yet shy in their own ways. They are people I'd love to meet.

(I also loved some of the comments that Stacey comes out with and wished I'd had them to hand when witnessing homophobic behaviour directed at friends in the past...)

[Kendra T · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a decent story, but it didn't wow me. It was a short story, so it had a rather fast pace that almost made it seem too quick for me. Bron was rather grumpy, Stacey was pure sunshine. The two of them together worked, but because of the pace it seemed to miss a lot of important stuff for us to get to the eventual HEA. I appreciated the authors explanation of cricket at the end. I am curious to watch a match now.

[Jamie (TheRebelliousReader) · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 stars. Meh. This was just fine. Stacey and Bron were okay leads but I wasn’t attached to either of them. The romance between them moved so fast but lacked depth and I didn’t really feel the connection between them. I felt for Bron because her family was trash and I liked Stacey’s mom. She was great but overall this was a quick read but it wasn’t anything amazing or memorable.

[Nicole · Rating 2 out of 5]

I could overlook the fact that I know nothing about cricket, so many of these terms went over my head. But then the dialogue felt stilted. And the storyline felt a little rushed. And the relationships were underbaked. And I just didn't get much out of this story as a result.

[Fran Sappharc · Rating 4 out of 5]

A hot with plot short story, well worth your time.